Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Cuts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,980,057 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 1,490,348 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 2.63% of Danaher worth $4,356,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its position in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DHR. Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $271.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $192.06 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $201.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $225.77. The firm has a market cap of $137.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Danaher Profile

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services that advance, accelerate, and integrate the development and manufacture of therapeutics; cell line and cell culture media development services; cell culture media, process liquids and buffers for manufacturing, chromatography resins, filtration technologies, aseptic fill finish; single-use hardware and consumables and services, such as the design and installation of full manufacturing suites; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes, and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.

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